The Directors: Stuart Rideout

Born in Wales, Stuart is a multi-award-winning director.

​His short film 'I wish for You' saw him collaborate with writer Michael Morpurgo, Academy Award winning actor Jeremy Irons, actor Maxine Peake and his daughter Emily. The film has won much acclaim on the short film festival circuit, winning over 40 awards across the world, and is now included in the San Diego High School curriculum to help teach children about climate change and the natural world.

Stuart has a truly impressive breadth of work, capturing nuanced and truthful performances blended with lusciously atmospheric cinematography. These combine to create a strong sense of cinematic storytelling that has served Stuart well over many global advertising campaigns.

Stuart loves cooking outdoors, cold water swimming and experimenting with various Martinis (current favourite – Vesper Martini)

Clients include – Sony, Ford, Chrysler, Marks & Spencer, Pedigree, Johnny Walker, Becks Beer, P&O Cruises, Intercontinental Hotels, MG, Canon, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Toyota, Purina, and Guinness.

Name: Stuart Rideout

Location: Wales UK

Repped by/in: Johnny Foreigner in UK, 

Awards: My short film 'I Wish for You' has won awards in over 45 international film festivals. 

LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?

Stuart> The beauty of this job is that every project is different and there are many aspects that can appeal in each script.

I try to trust my initial instincts; at the heart of each job is the idea and I’m always keen to understand how the creatives have arrived at the idea.

I really love scripts that require a level of emotion, whether it’s poignancy, humour or something more visceral or magical, so I’m always trying to find and understand the emotional hook in a script. 

LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?

Stuart> Having time is like gold dust when it comes to treatments.

I find that the actual process of writing a treatment tends to give me more clarity for the idea so I have really embraced the writing process. 

I do feel that treatments can sometimes get a little out of hand, you can quickly get to over forty pages of writing and imagery in a document. So I’m careful not to swamp the reader with hundreds of images and a ton of ‘director waffle’. I try to put myself in the reader’s shoes and keep things as to the point as possible.

LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with/ don’t have a big affinity with or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to do research and understand that strategic and contextual side of the ad? If it’s important to you, how do you do it?

Stuart> Understanding the idea is the most important thing initially. And I tend to loosely explore the context and strategy with the creatives at the initial meetings. 

I love working in different markets and I think having an ‘outsiders’ point of view can actually be pretty helpful. 

A few years ago I directed a series of commercials for Italian Telecom in Italy with Tim Delaney at ‘Leagas Delaney’. The campaign featured a famous Italian comedian performing in Italian and as I don’t speak Italian I was a little unsure how it would all pan out. But then as soon as I met Pif (the comedian) and we started working he reminded me of a cross between Jacques Tati, Mr Bean and Buster Keaton so the humour and style was incredibly physical and very visual so I leaned into that and instinctively I knew it would work out. 

LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?

Stuart> Film making is incredibly collaborative, all the different departments play a vital role and I’m a massive advocate of film sets being very positive creative environments.

I think the unsung heroes (especially in advertising) are the producers, both on the production and agency side. They are the glue that hold the whole job together. 

I love working closely with a producer who thinks creatively about solving problems, who understands both the idea and where I’m coming from and where I want to take the idea. I have been very lucky to have worked with some brilliant producers who have brought an awful lot to the table. 

LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about - is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?

Stuart> I guess I consider myself to be a cinematic storyteller and I’m lucky as this allows me to dip into various genres. So if I’m shooting a car script, SFX, food or landscapes I try to retain a consistency to my approach and that’s to be as detailed yet instinctive as possible but without stifling things. 

I get asked to do lots of food combined with lifestyle and it’s great when you can showcase food as part of the storytelling. 

I directed a Christmas commercial for Waitrose a few years ago and I read a review that said “I can’t believe a film about mince pies can make me cry so much” - to me that was a perfect review as I felt I’d really pulled the food aspect of the film into the overall emotive storytelling.

LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter and why is it wrong?

Stuart> That I used to be a photographer. For some reason this comes up quite a lot, I guess because my work is visual.

I have often been asked to do the photography on shoots alongside directing but I always feel I have my hands full directing the film.

LBB> Have you ever worked with a cost consultant and if so how have your experiences been?

Stuart> Yes, many times. Some are ex-producers and come at the job with a degree of production knowledge. Their main interaction is with the producer but I’m acutely aware that I ought to look closely at their suggestions and always try to understand their logic.

LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it?

Stuart> I have had to deal with quite a few very tricky situations. 

Once a pretty famous actor who had some reservations about the project we were working on and expressed himself in quite a negative way. That was pretty nerve wracking, but I was very open - we talked through his issues and I made sure we shot pretty quickly with a very enthusiastic and positive attitude. He was fine once he realised I wasn’t a total clown!

I encountered quite a funny problem years ago in Barcelona where I was shooting a job for Canon in the Olympic open air high diving pool. 

The last shot of the film was half in half out of the water as our female diver dives into the water in slow motion. We were shooting in December and the pool wasn’t heated so our diver refused to dive in. After much discussion she still flatly refused to dive, we were losing the light and we didn’t have a back-up high diver so as a last resort I put her swimsuit on (banned the crew from taking photos of me) and dived off the high platform. Other than a little over-rotation the shot was perfect but the water was freezing - I think that’s suffering for your art.

I think the craziest problem I have ever come across was shooting a commercial in Canada for ‘Pedigree’. I was setting up the first shot that was inside a cottage looking out of the front door at a lake, as I looked through the viewfinder I said to the DOP “its looking pretty dark” and he said “you’d better look outside”. When I stepped outside it was like a scene from ‘The Omen’ - massive dark clouds had gathered and suddenly an intensely strong wind had picked up. The first AD was screaming at everyone to get into the basement of the cottage as we were hit by a tornado and a huge tree was blown down onto the cottage. The whole thing lasted about ten minutes but our set was ruined and the cast and crew emerged from the basement to utter devastation.

Luckily we had two amazing producers on that job, both the agency side and for the production company. They worked into the night and we were up shooting again the next day at a different location.

LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?

Stuart> I strongly believe that being open and collaborative is vital to any successful film set.

I think listening to people is very important, you sometimes have to deal with egos but I try not to get phased by anything and remain as calm, positive and communicative as possible.

I’m very aware that creative teams have generally been on a journey with their idea and have been living with it for a while. Sometimes they have witnessed their initial idea being pulled and pushed through testing and focus groups. So I see my role as not only understanding their idea but breathing new life into their script and I try and bring a sense of energy, enthusiasm and understanding to every project. To me this is vital.

LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?

Stuart> Advertising is about communication and storytelling and you need people from diverse backgrounds with different experiences and ideas.

Everyone should have an equal opportunity. I love the fact that film making attracts people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds, different creeds, race, gender, sexual orientation - to my mind it’s about giving voice to talent.

LBB> How do you feel the pandemic is going to influence the way you work into the longer term? Have you picked up new habits that you feel will stick around for a long time?

Stuart> I think the most useful thing that I took from the pandemic was a pause for thought. I had to quarantine in a hotel in Germany for a week for a particular job and having no distractions it gave me time to think about where I am in my career and it was then that I thought I really need to jump fully into the world of freelance directing.

LBB> Your work is now presented in so many different formats - to what extent do you keep each in mind while you're working (and, equally, to what degree is it possible to do so)? 

Stuart> I’m very open to new media and new ways in which to communicate with an audience. I love the way social media has cajoled us to watch media in portrait rather than landscape format. At first I thought it was really limiting but I have experimented with it a lot, especially in Instagram, and love the way it’s forced me to rethink framing.

It can be tricky when the client wants to see the varying aspect ratios for different formats all on a single frame, I have had some very ‘interesting’ conversations regarding this. I’d much rather work with a single aspect ratio for a particular format rather than try to cover everything in one shot.

LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work (e.g. virtual production, interactive storytelling, AI/data-driven visuals etc)?

Stuart> I love how technology has brought a sense of freedom to film making. I use ‘Filmic Pro’ on my phone a lot during pre-production especially on recces. I probably drive the cinematographer crazy by doing so as there is a big difference between moving an i-phone and a film camera. But I love the immediacy of trying things out and reviewing things instantly.

I have been experimenting with VR a fair bit - I shot a safety film for Welsh Water in VR which was very much a challenge. It felt a little like directing a play as you can’t be anywhere near the actors so there’s lots of rehearsal and chatting beforehand. I’m also working on a VR mindfulness app as a little side project.

I have been using AI a lot recently to generate image ideas for a drama project I have been working on - it’s got quite a few very surreal scenes so I have been using AI as a way of visualising those scenes. It’s really helped with the writing process and gives you plenty of ideas on how to approach it. 

I do understand there is a wider more philosophical discussion regarding art and AI and I’m very interested to see where this leads but I currently see it as just another tool in the creative kitbag.

LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best – and why? 

Stuart> I Wish for You - Climate Coalition 

This project is very close to my heart. On paper this film had many problems from a very low budget to tricky logistics and casting. But I had a wonderful team of very creative and positive minded people around me who all helped breathe life into this film. 

Not only did I get to work really closely with the incredible writer Michael Morpurgo but also two brilliant actors - Jeremy Irons and Maxine Peake. But the most rewarding part of the whole experience was the fact that I also spent a week in Wales with a very small, talented film crew and my daughter who was six at the time and played the granddaughter in the film.

Waitrose Christmas

I loved every aspect of making this film. The original soundtrack was meant to be ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ by Chris Rea but we were traveling through Spain in a minibus as part of the shoot and my producer at the time, Scott Horan, suggested ‘How Can I Keep from Singing’ sung by a boys’ choir. It totally elevated the emotional range of the film. The reaction from the creative directors and the Waitrose marketing team was incredible - not a dry eye in the house.

Love Song - Climate Coalition

This film followed on from “I Wish for You” so we faced the challenge of ‘how do we follow on from that’. I had an idea of a poem about nature that morphs into a song sung live by a choir.

Again, I had a wonderful team of people who helped bring this film to life. Firstly, the brilliant Anthony Anaxagorou wrote a wonderfully sensitive and dramatic poem for us. This was delivered by an exceptional cast. Then Elbow said we could use their song “Magnificent (She Says)” and this was sung by the NHS Choir. We shot and recorded the choir singing live in an old music hall which was a real challenge. Not only did Elbow allow us to use their song they gave us all of the music stems so this allowed my editor Claire Mcgonical to score the film beautifully. 

Give Them Space - Chrysler 

I loved the core idea to this film which is playing on the word ‘space’ - weaving together two seemingly different narrative strands that converge at the end. 

I loved the weight of the gritty American voiceover and the way that it seemed to dance between talking about building spacious cars to being more philosophical about being a parent. The copywriting is excellent and provided the glue that held the two narrative strands together.